Details

Milton Keynes was designated as a New Town in 1967 and designed to accommodate a total population of around 250,000. It is the largest planned new settlement ever attempted in the UK. It is situated half-way between London, Birmingham, Oxford and Cambridge, forming the so-called ‘OxCam’ Arc with the last two. It is one of the fastest growing local authority areas in the UK both in terms of population and jobs, and is at the centre of an ambitious vision (MK Futures 2050) and of major infrastructural and strategic developments, such as the East-West Rail and on the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford growth corridor.

In the location of such change The Core Strategy (2013) and Local Plan (2005) were becoming out of date, resulting in a number of prominent speculative applications and appeals, based primarily on housing supply. Milton Keynes Council’s planning service wanted to stop this uncertainty by adopting a new Local Plan that would represent an integrated strategy for economic and social growth, balancing the economic, social and environmental impacts of new developments.

 

Plan-making

The plan was developed by Milton Keynes Council with the support of AECOM

• Milton Keynes Council’s planning service were the  lead for the preparation of the plan, and provided the vision as well as the final document;
• AECOM was integrated into the project team and provided support in the plan-making process, in addition to preparing the required evidence. The AECOM project manager (also the viability study lead) and deputy project manager (also the SA led), were seconded into the Development Plans team for two days every week.

Who made it possible?

The planning team at Milton Keynes Council did not have the capacity to gather all of the evidence and respond to the post-submission questions in-house. The Council overcame this problem by working in collaboration with others. Notably:

• Using and managing consultants (AECOM, URS, HDH Planning and Development, Boyer) to deliver the technical information;
• Reaching agreements (Statements of Common Ground, Memorandums of Understanding, Duty to Co-operate) with Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Natural Environmental Partnership, Aylesbury Vale, Central Bedfordshire, South Northamptonshire, Bedford and strategic site promoters;
• Working with the Plan:MK cross-party working group to obtain information, feedback and engagement; 

An effort has also been undertaken to maximise the internal collaboration across different planning services in Milton Keynes Council, with a monthly stand up planning service meetings between Policy, Development Management, Urban Design and Planning Obligations teams.

Stakeholder and community engagement

Milton Keynes Council adopted a collaborative, inclusive and engagement driven culture, placing a focus on involving councillors, stakeholders, residents, businesses, politicians, and statutory consultees at every stage possible.  Engagement with local people and businesses was actively sought through a number of initiatives: Topic Papers consultations and workshops, Vision workshops, a Strategic Development Directions consultation and local stakeholder groups and community masterplanning workshops. 

Milton Keynes Council planners recognised the need to overcome the uncertainty that came from the obsolescence of the 2013 Core Strategy and 2005 Local Plan, especially in the context of a fast growing economy and of an ambitious strategy to make Milton Keynes the third vertex in the OxCam arc. A new local plan would accommodate new development by providing for the housing needs and by supplying new employment land to cater for the future needs of businesses. 

The document would also provide a clear framework for the location of the new development, ensuring that open spaces are maintained and key areas protected.

In order to do so, the team adopted a very structured project management approach, setting out a roadmap that demonstrated all of the interdependencies for:

• The vision: planning for growth;
• The evidence: critical transport, viability, housing, employment and retail evidence, alongside a robust sustainability appraisal;
• The engagement required: a simple and sustained stakeholder engagement, that would seek expert input and would allow two-way communication; a cross-party Member Working Group that would steer the project; and an ongoing engagement with different service areas to shape policy.

In reviewing the plan, the Planning Inspector praised the involvement of the entire team in preparing the plan and their contributions during the examination.

Several technical studies and background documents were developed  to support the plan, including research on housing, employment, retail, health and wellbeing, the built and natural environment, infrastructure, accessibility and flooding. 

The sustained investment in stakeholder engagement allowed the integration of the views of local people, businesses, landowners, developers and public agencies in the plan.

Both social and environmental sustainability concerns were central to the evidence involved in the plan, with an updated Sustainability Appraisal report and an Equality Impact Assessment prepared by AECOM.

The plan underwent a comprehensive viability study in 2017. 

Plan:MK

The main document of the Local Plan, branded Plan:MK, was adopted on 20 March 2019 by Milton Keynes Council It sets out:

• the Council’s vision and objectives for the Borough’s development over the Plan period;
• the scale and distribution of growth for homes, jobs and retail and leisure uses;
• strategic policies to provide a context for the more detailed Development Management policies, including infrastructure, place-making principles, climate change and green infrastructure;
• policies to shape new development and areas of change; providing 132 hectares of new land for business development;
• policies for the built and natural environment and to address climate change;
• policies to build a strong, competitive economy centred on the “knowledge economy. This includes maintaining and enhancing the vibrancy and vitality of Central Milton Keynes and other centres, encourage small businesses and start-ups, and the creation of a new university in Central Milton Keynes;
• policies to deliver the homes, neighbourhoods and facilities to support thriving and healthy communities. The Plan will provide for 31,000 dwellings by 2031 - a significantly higher figure than the Objectively-Assessed Housing Need so to provide a diversity of supply. In doing so, the plan will provide for the full affordable housing need;
• policies to support a sustainable mobility and road and public transport network;
• proposals to deliver these aspirations including infrastructure requirements and funding mechanisms.

Related plans

Other related plans were approved during the plan-making process:

• Site Allocations Plan (adopted in 2018) - it reviews the allocation for housing sites with the goal of balancing the over reliance on a few large sites of the previous plan.
• Minerals Local Plan (adopted in 2017)

Supporting Planning Documents

Two Supporting Planning Documents were prepared to complement the measures laid out in the plan:

• Affordable Housing SPD
• Planning Obligations SPD

As of December 2019, both documents are in their final consultation phase.

Review and monitoring

The Local Plan for Milton Keynes will be reviewed to respond to a number of emerging strategies and infrastructural developments, including those set out in the Futures 2050 Vision and those related to the East-West Rail and the Cambridge-MK-Oxford growth corridor.

The main aspect that can be replicated from Milton Keynes Local Plan is the project management approach that allowed a speedy drafting and approval of the plan. That is essential in a framework where English local authorities are called to review their Local Plans every five years.

The capacity to deliver Development  Plans rapidly means that local authorities across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are able to anticipate and react to changes in the local context and in the legislative framework. In this sense, Milton Keynes’ structured and collaborative approach can prove useful for all UK planning authorities seeking to have a responsive policy that allows them to truly shape their local development.